Headcanon that whenever Andrew starts reading a murder mystery, he and Neil have developed this weird little ritual where Andrew tells him about the plot, briefly going over the facts and details of the murder and Neil immediately picks a random character and decides that's the killer.
Not the most suspicious character. Not the one that makes sense. Just some guy.
And then he commits.
It doesn't matter how much evidence points elsewhere as the story progresses. Neil will spend the entire book inventing increasingly ridiculous theories to explain why his suspect is still guilty. Every new clue gets twisted into supporting his argument somehow. Contradictory evidence? Clearly part of the cover-up. Alibi? Fabricated. Confession from someone else? Obvious misdirection.
Andrew rarely engages with any of it, often ignoring Neil's take altogether, but he continues updating him on the case anyway, so Neil hasn't stopped.
There's also cero context when they talk about it so it leads to situations like this:
Andrew, entering the room: the old lady from the bakery is dead.
Kevin: what? who?
Neil, gasps: she faked her own death, she's smarter than I thought.
Kevin: wha-
Andrew: recognisable body, she is dead.
Neil: she killed herself then.
Kevin: you know what, I don't even wanna know.
Andrew: stabbing herself herself 27 times?
Neil, shrugs: to each their own.
Kevin: ahhh, the fucking book, ok
Andrew: there was another murder after hers.
Neil: Oh, that makes sense. The corpse they found was her secret twin's. Perfect alibi.
